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Smartphone users would pay more for better quality mobile broadband

PushON | February 22nd 2012

Smartphone users are being put off from engaging in mobile commerce and premium services because of the quality of their broadband signal; but would gladly pay extra to rectify the problem, according to a new survey.

The survey, by telecommunications systems hardware manufacturer, BelAir Networks, revealed that only 43 of smartphone users believed their mobile web connection to be ‘adequate’ in metropolitan areas.

As a consequence of this unreliability, the survey revealed, 78% of smartphone users in the UK, and 64% of users in the US, said they would be unlikely to use their mobiles to engage in online shopping or to try to secure services via the web.

In addition to dissuading smartphone users from participating in mobile commerce activities, the survey also revealed that 73% of UK smartphone users and 69% of US users said they were unlikely to access mobile video services owing to their broadband connection being inadequate.

When asked who or what was to blame for any problems encountered with accessing broadband by mobile, 77% of mobile users in general said they held the service provider accountable; 24% blamed the application; and 16% said they thought it was their device which was underperforming.

Regardless of the perceived reasons behind their lack of broadband signal quality, however, the survey found that over 22% of smartphone users in the UK, and more than 36% of users in the US, said they would be willing to pay up to £7 extra a month to guarantee a consistently good mobile broadband connection.